Homemade Ketchup – Canning Recipe

So I had this genius idea I would make our own ketchup… Which I’m very lucky it came out delicious. I had no idea it was so involved, it would keep me in the kitchen for hours, and I didn’t even make as much as I had planned!

All of that being said, it’s worth the effort for how good it tastes. It’s not as thick as most commercial recipes, but it’s tangy, it’s sweet and it’ll be great for dipping things into, or could even be used as a sauce. I may have grumbled a lot while making it yesterday, but the results are great! Plus it is much healthier than the BPA full canned tomato products from the.

I know the finished product doesn’t look very red in the jar, but that’s because I got these greatheritage blue jars! It helps protect the color and quality – and they look pretty neat too!

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp celery seeds
• 4 tsp whole cloves
• 2 cinnamon sticks, broken into pieces
• 1-1/2 tsp whole allspice
• 3 cups cider vinegar
• 24 lb tomatoes, cored and quartered (about 72 medium)
• 3 cups chopped onions (about 4 medium)
• 1 tsp Paprika
• 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup Ball Salt for Pickling & Preserving
• 7 (16 oz) pint glass preserving jars with lids and bands

Directions:

Step 1: Put your celery seeds, cloves, cinnamon sticks and allspice in a square of cheesecloth, creating a spice bag. If you are unable to find cheesecloth – it was surprisingly hard for me to find, you can use a Garni bag! It makes it a lot easier to put it in, tie it up and pull them out. Oddly, I was able to find them and cheese clothe at the bulk food store – but not at my standard grocery stores.

Step 2:  In a small stainless steel saucepan combine your vinegar and bag of spices. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let sit for 25 minutes. Discard your spice bag, and let the vinegar mixture cool.

Step 3: Prepare your tomatoes! You need to blanch and core them. You can leave the seeds in if you want – it wont hurt and we’ll remove them later.  To blanch you tomatoes you need to drop them into a large pan of boiling water – a few at a time. Let them boil for 60 seconds, then remove them with a slotted spoon. Transfer them immediately to a boil of ice water. You will notice the skin split from the temperature change. Remove your tomatoes and simply roll back the skin. Cut the core from the top removing any hard bits, also remove any “bad spots” on your tomatoes. Quarter them and add them to a large stainless steel pan.

Step 4: In the same large stainless steel saucepan – really BIG if you’re making a full batch -combine your tomatoes, onions and paprika  Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat and boil gently for 20 minutes. Add your vinegar and return to boil, let boil until everything is soft for about 30 minutes.

Step 5:  Place a large glass or metal boil in the bottom of your sink. Place your largest sieve in the bowl. In small batches pour your tomato mixture into the sieve and push all the moisture through. I found this is easiest with a potato masher. Once all of the liquid has been removed, place your extra tomatoes in another bowl. Repeat until you have removed all of the liquid from your mixture. Discard the left over solids.

Step 6: Place your liquid back into the your large sauce pan. Add in the sugar and salt. Bring to a boil over medium high. Reduce your heat and let simmer and reduce until it’s about 1/2 of the original volume. You will notice it to start to thicken up a bit at this time. This will take about an hour and you should stir frequently to prevent burning.

Step 7: Prepare your jars and can! Follow the instructions below! Since this does make so much, you may have to process in batches.

Canning Instructions: 

1. Place 7 clean pint mason jars on a rack in your stock pot. Fill the jars and stock pot with cool water until it completely covers the top of the jars. Cover and put on medium heat. Simmer but do not boil.
2. Prepare 7 lid sets, put the bands aside and put the flat lids in a small sauce pan and put on medium heat. Do not boil, but keep warm through the whole process.
3. Prepare your ketchup according to the directions above.
4. Now, remove the jars from the warm bath. Tip them as you pull them out and pour the water back into the pan. Place them on a towel on the counter with the opening up. Do not dry them! Just put them down and put the funnel in. Ladle the hot ketchup into each jar until there is about 1/2 inch of space in the top. Once all jars are full, take a plastic or wooden utensil and move it around to get extra air bubbles out.
5. Take the small magnet tool and remove flat lids from their hot bath. Place over top of each jar. By hand screw on the collars, but not too tight! Remember some air still needs to get out of each jar.
6. Place the jars back into the hot stock pot and replace the lid. Turn your temperature up to high. When it starts to do a rolling boil, start a timer for 20 minutes.
7. After the jars have processed for 15 minutes, turn off the heat and remove the lid to the pan. Let cool for 5 minutes. Remove all the jars without tipping them and place them back on the towel. Remember – don’t towel them off!

This will take hours to make, but if you make a full batch instead of a 1/4 batch like I did, it should make you everything you need for a year! I can’t wait until my tomato plants are producing tons of tomatoes so I can make some more for us!

This recipe is part of the Food Challenge with nine other bloggers. You can check out the recipes below for this challenge! Each month we’ll be doing another challenge – let us know if you try any of the recipes!

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